


Reluctant Arrangments

by fezwearingjellybananas



Series: Writer's Month 2020 [23]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26072047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: Caitlin met the boy her mother had decided she would one day marry when she was fourteen. Neither Caitlin nor Bartholomew are particuarly happy about this situation
Series: Writer's Month 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859224
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Reluctant Arrangments

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month Day 23- Posion. It got a little away from me though

Caitlin met her future husband when she was fourteen.

Her mother had arranged it. She hadn’t asked Caitlin first, just told her she’d be travelling to Central to meet with their king. Ronnie, her best friend who worked in the stables, didn’t really know anything about Bartholomew Allen either, just that he’d inherited the throne from his mother a year ago, and he’d heard that Queen Nora had been kind, and clever, and beautiful, and that probably meant her son was too.

It would be an advantageous match. Keystone and Central might have shared a border, but they had a bitter past. A marriage would unite their kingdoms.

Central’s castle was simpler than she’d imagined it would be when they arrived. The throne room was full of lords and ladies there to greet them. And the king was stood in front of his throne, crown slightly too big for him, twiddling his fingers and clearly very uncomfortable.

Her mother hadn’t mentioned her betrothed was a child.

The blond man next to Bartholomew leant down slightly to whisper in King Bartholomew’s ear as Caitlin curtsied.

“Your highness,” Bartholomew said. He started to bow and the blond man whispered to him again. Bartholomew looked up at him and nodded. “Welcome to Central, we are honoured to have you here.”

“I am honoured to be here, your majesty,” Caitlin said.

“This is our Regent, His Grace Duke Eobard Thawne, he will ensure your comfort while you are our guest.”

“A pleasure, your highness,” the blond man said. Bartholomew looked up at him and after a curt nod resumed twiddling his fingers. The man on Bartholomew’s other side rested a hand on his shoulder with an encouraging smile. “We have rooms prepared for you and your entourage if you would like to rest after your journey.”

“Thank you,” Caitlin said.

* * *

Caitlin sat next to Bartholomew at the feast they had prepared to welcome her. He picked at his food and still wouldn’t meet her eyes, let alone talk to her. Duke Thawne seemed to do all the talking for him, and Bartholomew just tried to slip further down his chair out of sight.

The one smile Caitlin saw on his face was when a young girl waved at him from further down the table. She was sat next to the other man who had been at Bartholomew’s side.

“Perhaps tomorrow you can show Princess Caitlin the grounds tomorrow, your majesty,” Duke Thawne said. Bartholomew sat more upright in his chair again.

“Um,” he said. “Yes. If you would like that, your highness?”

“I would be honoured to join you, your majesty,” Caitlin said.

Bartholomew didn’t say anything else for the rest of the meal.

* * *

The sun shone the next morning and Bartholomew offered Caitlin his arm with only a little prompting from Duke Thawne.

The grounds were well kept. Roses bloomed against the walls. They weren’t large, but they were still in the city. No doubt Bartholomew had country residences with far more land.

“It’s beautiful, your majesty,” Caitlin said.

“Thank you,” Bartholomew said. “I will make sure the gardener knows you think so.”

The rest of their walk descended into silence.

* * *

Caitlin had just been intending to take a walk alone after dinner. She knew the Duke had retired, and she assumed the king had too.

Instead she heard Bartholomew’s voice from a room she was certain was not his bedroom.

“But it’s not fair,” he said. “He’s your uncle. Can’t you talk to him?”

“It’s not that simple,” another voice said. Caitlin recognised that one, she’d already been introduced to Duke Thawne’s ward and nephew. “It’s already been arranged, to just break it all off already would be disrespectful and could make things worse.”

“But I don’t want to get married.”

“You’re not getting married until you’re eighteen, that’s six more years.”

“Dad said I’m allowed to choose if I want to get married when I’m a grown up though, like Ma choose him. If Dad was here he wouldn’t let Eobard make me.”

“Barry,” a girl’s voice said.

“Hello,” a small voice said from next to Caitlin. She looked down to see a small boy. “Are you Princess Caitlin? I’m Wally. Are you looking for Barry? He’s in the library with Eddie and Cisco and Iris. It’s the best time to talk to him if you want to talk to him because there’s no Eobard making disapproving noises.”

“I think we should be retiring-”

“Come on, you can meet Iris, she’s my big sister.” Wally reached up for Caitlin’s hand and Caitlin let him pull her into the library. “Iris, look, I made a new friend!”

“Your highness,” the girl who’d smiled to Bartholomew at the feast curtsied. “I apologise for my brother, he’s only six.”

“Oh, no, he’s been very sweet,” Caitlin said.

“I should take him to bed. Good night, your majesty.”

“Goodnight, Lady West,” Bartholomew said.

“Goodnight, Barry!” Wally said. “Goodnight Caitlin!” he waved with his free hand as Lady West pulled him out the library.

“Aww, wish I had a younger sibling instead of just older,” a boy said. Edward Thawne nudged him slightly. “Your highness, it is an honour to meet you.”

“We’ll leave you in peace,” Edward said. “Come on, Cisco.”

“Oh, right. See you, Barry!” Edward nudged him again. “I mean your majesty.”

“Goodnight,” Bartholomew said. Edward ushered Cisco out and shut the library door behind them. “Um, your highness, um…” He trailed off.

“I haven’t met Cisco or Lady West,” Caitlin said. “You know them well?”

“They’re my best friends,” Bartholomew perked up a little at that. “Iris is Joe’s daughter, I mean Lord West, he’s the Marquess of Danville, he was my mother’s best friend, and Cisco’s is the son of Duchess Ramon only he’s the youngest so he gets to choose what he wants to do and he’s studying to be a scholar. I am sorry, your highness, I didn’t mean to be rude, it will be an honour to be your husband.”

“I am not what you were expecting, am I?”

“No,” Bartholomew said.

“You’re not what I expected either. They told me you were a king and I expected you to be a man already. How old are you?”

“Twelve.”

“You’re two years younger than me. I suppose that won’t matter as much when we’re adults and have to get married. But you are very young to be a king.”

“My parents died,” he said.

“I’m sorry. My father died too, but he was ill for a long time.”

“Doctor McGee said it was toadstool poison. And Miss Tess in the kitchen died of toadstools too so Eobard said one probably got into their dinner by accident because they look so similar sometimes but I saw a man in a yellow cloak that night, I know I did, and Miss Tess always triple checked the mushrooms, always, so it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Did you get sick too?”

“No, but I don’t like mushrooms. And no one else saw the man I saw. Iris, Cisco, and Eddie said they’d help me find him but Eobard doesn’t like us talking about it, he says they already solved it and I shouldn’t dwell on it while I have so many other duties and even Joe says no one can find any trace of the man in yellow.”

“I’m sure you’ll find him one day.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. You’re nicer than I thought you’d be.”

“I suppose at least we can be friends. My mother said I’m expected to make yearly visits and write, so we’ll have plenty of time to become friends. Six years is a long time. Then again, six years gives us plenty of time to find a way out of it. Somehow.”

“You don’t want to get married either?”

“No.”

“I bet if we ask Iris and Cisco for help, we can come up with a plan. We can still make an alliance with us only being friends, can’t we?”

“When I’m Queen, definitely. We should probably get some rest.”

“I can walk you to your room? Is that what I’m supposed to do? It’s near mine anyway.”

“That would be nice. Thank you, your majesty.”

“Oh, you can call me Barry if you want, if we’re going to be friends. And tomorrow I can properly introduce you to Iris and Cisco and we can find a way to just be friends.”

“Just friends.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not 100% sure how the rest would go (and I don't think it'll still be the 23rd if I keep writing anyway) but a) Eobard is behind Nora and Henry's deaths and does also plan on killing Barry and possibly framing Caitlin and b) Barry and Caitlin sucessfully get out of having to get married, possibly right at the last minute, and these two plots are probably linked. Iris would definitely have a very big part, she was meant to have more in this bit. A subplot where slightly older Princess Caitlin falls in love with stable boy Ronnie or implying some future WestAllen could be fun, or maybe it just stays gen.


End file.
